“Where’s Tessa today?Any chance she’ll be at the first home game?”
"Now that your relationship is official, where do you see it going?"
An image of Tessa pregnant, sitting on her front porch, waiting for me, popped into my mind.And I almost choked; I had to school my expression and put a leash on my wild thoughts.
Tessa would go running for the hills if she knew how desperate I was for her.How it felt like my focus, my intensity, was shifting from Hockey to her.But that couldn't be...could it?Hockey had been everything; I had worked so hard for most of my life to get where I am now.
A flash pulled me back to the line of cameras in front of me.
"Will Tessa move to Summit City?"
The questions come wrapped in grins, but every one lands like a weight in my stomach.
She’s in Hawthorne Ridge, working.Probably covered in sweat and hay and that scent that’s become the closest thing I have to peace.And I’m here, on polished concrete, being told to lookin lovefor a camera.
They want her at opening night.PR already slid it into my schedule: family appearance, conduct correction, with the GM's reminder that if I don't play along, the morality, image, and conduct clauses in my contract could have me dropped from the team or playing somewhere else before I knew what was happening.That, out of a decade-long career, a few bad months mean more than all the good years.
All the same buzzwords that mean one thing: we’ll sell your heart along with your stats.
I tell myself it’s fine.That she’s already part of my world.
That this, us, is real.The media attention is just a by-product, not the reason.
Still, the weight on my chest grows heavier.
On the ice, the photographers line up at the boards, long lenses tracking every pass, every spray of ice.The sound of skates carving into fresh ice echoes through the arena.
This part, at least, feels right.Controlled.Predictable.
Anders slaps my stick as I circle back to the blue line.“You look like you wanna murder someone,” he laughs.
“Maybe I do.”
He grins.“Tessa send you any cute animal pictures recently?We miss her.Farm breakfasts beat protein shakes any day.”
That makes me smile.“Yeah,” I say, grabbing my phone during the next water break.She’s sent a photo, her holding a baby goat, freckles brighter than the sun behind her.
Tessa:Miss this chaos?
I smile before I can stop myself.
Anders notices.“You know I never thought I would want to live anywhere but the city.But after this summer...I don't know.There is a certain kind of peace out there.You know?”
“Yeah.”That's all I can manage to get out.I worked so hard to get where I am; I poured so much of my childhood and teenage years into this dream.Into having more money, a better life for my family.But anytime I tried to offer to buy my parents a bigger house or make their lives easier, it drove a wedge between us, like they couldn't understand why I would ever want anything other than how I was raised.
Eli and Kenzie both want to work the land like my parents.And it is not like we were ever without.Sure, sometimes I had second-hand hockey equipment, or Eli would drive me to practice because Dad couldn't leave the farm.Over the years, after the arguments over my lifestyle changes and relationships, we drifted apart.That is, until a certain fiery redhead came into all our lives.
I feel a smile tug at the corners of my mouth, and Anders elbows me.“She's good for you, Captain.You look less homicidal already.”
The photographer catches the moment.I hear the shutter click.
“Perfect, Captain.That’s the one.”
By the time the last sponsor reel wraps, my face hurts from smiling.
Dante corners me by the lockers, tossing a towel around his neck.
“You know they’re going to make her the centrepiece, right?”
